Mismatched
by Nadir and Blue Wings
Summary: [AU Cloti] Tifa Lockheart sneaked into an all boys academy to escape her confusing life... but it just got even more confusing. Falling for her roommate, being crushed on by her teacher, prom night, pesky suitors... will she last till graduation?
1. Trading Dolls for Basketballs

Tifa Lockheart dressed up as a boy to enter an all-boys boarding school with the hopes of staying hidden from her persistent suitor, Zack. But she falls in love with her roommate... the popular, but cold, Cloud Strife who has a crush on their music teacher, Aerith Gainsborough... who ignores him because she likes Tifa's nerdy boy counterpart. Will she last till graduation?

* * *

**"Mismatched"**

* * *

_Chapter One: Trading Dolls for Basketballs

* * *

_

A/N: This was a new fic I thought of when I was asleep. Yeah, I dreamt of it and it kinda got stuck in my head, as if wanting to be written. So yet again halting Haunted's progress, I hope you like this new fic. And just what Nicole said, I like criticism so criticize, criticize, criticize (and review?) please. I'd really want to know how I do as a writer.

'Click!'

"Oh dad," Tifa sighed as her father switched channels and finally settled on one he felt watching, "I hate basketball."

"But paper clip," her father said lovingly, "You'd make a great player, you just gotta know the moves... that's all."

"Paper clip again!" Tifa said, putting on a mask of fake annoyance, "Please call me Tifa, dad."

"But I like paper clip!" her father retorted, seemingly enjoying himself, "Oh but if you don't like basketball, I guess I can ask Zack to watch it with me."

"Don't let him get within two inches of our house, dad!" Tifa suddenly cried, "He keeps courting me even if I always turn him down, he's unbelievable!"

"Now Tifa," her father said, suddenly becoming serious, "You know that his father and I are good friends and I don't see anything wrong with the boy. It's probably you who needs a little tweaking."

"Tweaking? I'm not broken!" Tifa rebelled, the tone of her voice rising a bit higher, "He is a freaky guy... he even stalked me once!"

"I think that you should know Tifa," her father calmly said as he took a sip of his wine, "That love can make you do crazy things... and judging by his actions, then he must really love you sincerely... and that's a good thing."

"No!" Tifa exclaimed, "I will never accept his love nor will I learn to love him!"

"That's it!" her father pounded his fist on the table, "You are to go with him and learn a thing or two about basketball!"

"B-but..." Tifa stammered, still not wanting to admit defeat.

"No buts!" his voice was steady and firm, "Now go... or I'm grounding you."

'SLAM!'

"Why did you have to go," her father sighed, "Ever since you died, Tifa had been very distant to me..."

'This is my life,' Tifa thought bitterly to herself, 'Why can't he understand that I am capable of choosing by myself? I am sixteen now, for pete's sake!'

"Why can't Tifa understand," her father continued, staring out the window, "That I just want to protect her... To find someone who will not do the same mistakes I did to you..."

'Click!'

"Hello?" A cheerful voice answered.

'I knew he was such a freak,' Tifa sighed, the second time today, "Zack, it's me, Tifa."

"Tifa? Oh I'm so happy you called!"

"Yeah, well... you know basketball?"

"I-uh... I'm really good at it! Why?"

"Maybe we can, err, shoot some hoops later?"

"...I'd love to!"

"Fine. See you here in thirty minutes?"

"I'll be there, Tifa-"

Dial tone.

"Things are starting to look up," Zack said to himself as he happily put down the phone, "But... wait! I don't know a single thing about basketball..."

"Zack is good at something?" Tifa thought skeptically, "Oh well, at least I can learn a new sport."

Tifa didn't spend much time on getting ready, 'It's just Zack anyway,' she thought as she got a newspaper to keep herself busy.

_LOCKHEART'S GOAL WON THE GAME FOR THE MIDGAR WOLVES!_

Lately, the headline had always been about her. Ever since she had been accepted in the national team, she had been shocking everyone and proving to them how much a girl could excel in a "man's" sport. Her youth and vigor earned her a place on every fanatic's heart and her team a place on every match.

"Actually, I like martial arts better," she said out loud to herself, "To use it in killing monsters and being in missions... to save the world! Yeah... what a dream..."

"Miss Tifa," the butler's voice rang from just outside her bedroom door, "Zack has come to see you."

Putting down the newspaper, Tifa couldn't help but sigh, again, "It can't be that bad... can it?"

But slowly making her way down the enormous stairway, and getting a first glimpse at Zack, Tifa immediately knew how bad it could be, "This is why I'm hating my father so much now." Because looking at him now, clad in an outift fit for the Olympics, Tifa knew it was just too much. No, it was way, way too much.

"Uhhm, Zack?" she said, her eyes glued on his clothes, "You do know we're just gonna play, right? I mean, just for fun?"

"Of course," he flashes her a wide smile, "That's why I dressed comfortably."

'You still don't get it, do you?' a taunt to humiliate him suddenly flashed in her mind, but she quickly brushed it away, "O-Okay, let's go."

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the local covered court only to find out how many people were there at this time of the day, 'It's four in the afternoon, the perfect time to play,' Tifa groaned at the revelations she made, 'There are more people here to see us.'

Keeping a low profile in her simple shorts and tank top, Tifa managed to avoid the stares of many. Especially when those stares were on Zack.

'I... am... dead!' she told herself nervously, 'If they find me hanging out with that loser I am so dead! I knew it was too much.'

"Tifa, let's start!" Tifa felt blood rushing to her cheeks as Zack called out her name aloud. Aloud.

Nervous about standing and playing basketball with Zack, she knew that this was no time to be chicken. It was late, way too late to do that now. And besides, now that the attention has been focused to her, it would not look good if people saw her cowering out. 'Just do it!' she tells herself, calming a little bit. Like 1 calmer than before groan.

"Okay," she bit her lip, "Uhmm, can you show me a... lay-up?"

"No prob," it was noticeable how he raised his voice so that the people around them can hear, "Anything just for you, Tifa!"

And then, lo and behold! RUNNING from the far end of the court, Zack stood just outside the three-point shot line and shot the ball.

Stupid.

The people started to laugh, and Zack took it all in one big stride. He even laughed along with them but this was only because he thought that they were laughing because he was so good, and he also wondered aloud where Tifa went.

Touching her cheeks which were now so hot from all the blood rushing to it, Tifa could feel herself slowly falling apart. She had the mentality of a famous person, an inappropriate famous one perhaps because all she could think about was of the embarassment. Thankfully, she was able to take immediate recluse inside her car which was now easing its way into their driveway. No way was she ever gonna go out with Zack, not ever now that this has happened.

"That's it!" she cried hopelessly, "I have to get away from everything."

Picking up the telephone and dialling a number, she made arrangements. But arrangements to what, no one knew. It was clear to everyone not to disturb her then as she stayed locked up in her room, busy with something that was nothing but a faint idea, that was hard to comprehend, for everyone else.

"Dad," she said, already eating breakfast the next day and was obviously tired, "I have decided transfer to another school."

"What about your present school?" her father was clearly surprised and he felt no reason to hide his anxiety, "It was one of the best international schools, so why this sudden decision? Did something happen?"

"Please understand dad," her eyes revealed a softness, a plead, that softened her father's heart, "Things change, and right now... I think change would be a good thing for me. Just... please... I can't quite explain it. It's just too-"

"Okay Tifa," he finally said, but in a comforting way, "I trust you."

"Thanks," relaxing a bit, she was relieved, "I hadn't expected it to be this easy."

"You know Tifa," he said as he gently touched her hand, "I just want you to be happy, maybe that's why I can be a little over the top sometimes."

"I understand," she held his hand tighter, "And I've got it all covered."

"Oh," her father was again surprised, as he hadn't expected it to be that fast, "Where?"

"Midgar Academy," she simply stated.

"But that's an exclusive, all-boys boarding school!" he exclaimed.

"Uhmm, actually, no," she lied, "They had just started accepting female enrollees this coming school year."

Suddenly, her father's cellphone rang, "Hello?" was followed by a brief conversation then her father exploding, "What?"

Closing his clam phone shut, her father abruptly stood up from the table, "Sorry paper clip," he muttered dazedly, "But something's up with our gold mines in Seattle, and I just have to check it out. I'll be leaving immediately, who knows when I'll be back? Anyway, I'm really sorry paper clip."

"Why dad?" Tifa asked concernedly, completely ignoring being called by her most despised nickname, "What's the sudden rush about?"

"Mm-pph... Bye!" her father tried(tried?) explaining but his mouth was full, which was because of him finishing his breakfast in one mouthful. "It seems that this is really a serious matter then," Tifa muttered to herself as her father hurriedly went to his room to fix his things.

'Anyway, this is good, no questions asked,' she thought happily to herself, 'This idea might actually work now, now that he's away!'

"Bye daddy!" she cried out as her father unloaded his luggage into the car, "Don't wait too long to come back!"

"I won't paper clip," her father cried back, then disappeared as he closed the car door shut.

"Now that operation one is finish," she muttered to herself as the sight of her father's car began to fade in the distance, "I have to get busy on operation two,"

_"Dressing up."_


	2. Hello Mister Stupid

Chapter Two: Hello Mister Stupid

_By: Nadir and Blue Wings_

* * *

**"Welcome to Midgar Academy"**

The gloomy sign hung over the school's gate like a warning of impending doom. This school, after all, was known for its tough curriculum with its emphasis on preparing a student to be deadly in combat and useful during missions.

"Just as I've always wanted," Tifa whispered to herself as she parked her car, "Missions! I am so excited!"

She decided to transfer to this school to achieve her dream of fighting in combat. But more than that, she came here to escape from Zack. With her father siding with him, she knew that she had to do something drastic if she didn't want to be his, gulp, girlfriend. And anyway, who would think of looking for her... in an all-boys academy?! 'This is perfect, really,' she sighed happily.

She went out of her car, stopping to check herself on the window. She was clad in the school's uniform which is a blue short-sleeved, collared shirt under a maroon jacket and black pants paired with Adidas sneaks. In her opinion, she looked quite 'boyish' and could really pass for a boy. The maroon jacket perfectly hid her, uhh, bosom and her new hairstyle suited her face perfectly. "Man, I should have cut my hair short ages ago!" She joked, although no one was around to appreciate it.

After a few minutes inside the corridor though, "Where in the world is room H4-A anyway?" she said out loud to herself, already irritated and unwary of how she might have sounded.

"Hmm...?" A tall and stern-looking lady stopped to look at here suspiciously, "What is your name, boy?"

"Ma'am!" Tifa, surprised, took a while before finally answering, "Err, Johnny-"

"Answer quickly, lad!" The impatient lady roared, almost making Tifa's ears bleed, literally, "Johnny wha-"

"Excuse me," A blonde guy collided with the stern lady, but didn't seem to exhibit any fear when the lady shouted at him for interrupting her while she was speaking so impolitely. And for also not apologizing 'so impolitely'.

'This is my chance,' Tifa thought mischievously as she ran away from the two, 'Thank goodness he arrived,' but stopping to look back at the blonde stranger, she saw that he was gone and that the stern lady was looking around for her, gulped, "Yikes!"

Turning around to run again, she collided with the blonde stranger, "What is today anyway?" she heard him say in frustration.

"Well, it's the first day of classes," Tifa said in a low voice, successfully sounding like a normal guy and then debating with herself whether she should flash him a smile or just keep her reaction to the end of that sentence, 'Well... he is... sort of... cute!'

"I was thinking more of 'bumping into others day'", he said, his tone of voice unsure whether he was still angry or was that just a witty retort? 'He's so... confusing,' Tifa thought.

Then, she heard him grunt, obviously still annoyed, but just as he turned to leave, she hastened to add, "I'm sorry, I'm just a transferee," catching his attention and making him look back, "Do you know where room H4-A is?"

"Huh?" he looked at her weirdly, making her conscious of her appearance, "It's right behind you."

"A-Oh!" was her surprised, and relieved, reply, "T-Thanks."

The guy went into the room without saying another word to her and she quickly followed him, 'I thought he noticed that I'm a girl!' she thought gleefully, 'Thank goodness, when really, all I've got to thank are these huge specs.'

"Strife and err-" the teacher called the guy's name angrily then was about to say hers when, "I don't recognize you, are you a transferee?"

"Uhh, yes sir," she replied meekly, now getting used to always using her low voice.

"Well, this is not a good way to start your school year here!" he resumed his angry composure, "Both of you are late!"

"I-I'm sorry sir-" She tried to say but the teacher's angry voice boomed so loudly that there was no way that anyone could have heard her. Apparently, he was not yet finish.

"There will be no excuses!" the teacher sternly said as he continued, "I want you two to stay in the hallway and carry three books in each hand while in a squatting position. For an hour," he said that last phrase while smiling sort of, evilly.

Tifa didn't know how she should react to such harsh punishment, she knew she couldn't, and shouldn't, complain but still... "Sir I-" she began, but quickly stopped when she saw the blonde guy quietly exiting the room to do as the teacher told them so she just followed suit, once again, but still completely weirded out as to why he did not complain. They were only about a minute late anyway.

'Maybe he's used to it,' she thought sleepily.

As they sat there, hardly a minute passing, Tifa's curiosity got the better of her so she tried talking to the blonde guy, "Er, Strife?"

He glanced at her but before she can utter anything, he turned to look at the door again.

'Sheesh,' Tifa groaned inwardly, "When someone calls you, you can at least pay some attention to what they're going to say, you know?"

He didn't turn to look at her but it was obvious that she caught his attention because after a while he began to speak, "I'm Cloud, Cloud Strife."

Tifa blushed a little because of embarassment, 'Of course! Strife was not his name, silly me. People call others by their surname to exercise authority, well at least that's what it is in schools,' but she quickly scolded herself for stalling and hastened a reply, "O-Of course, I'm sorry. I'm Johnny er, Johnny Lockheart. Nice to meet you Cloud."

She saw him turn towards her, and much to her surprise and worry, he raised his eyebrow, 'What? Did he see through my act!' was all that the sweatdropping Tifa was thinking at that instant.

"Are you related to Tifa Lockheart?" She almost didn't hear his reply because the beat of her heart was so fast and loud, 'Wha-?' but now, it throbbed even faster, "He knows me??"

"You know, the famous soccer player," he sighed, as if complaining to himself how slow his companion was at comprehending simple things.

"Ah! Yes!" was Tifa's fast reply, again, she scolded herself for suspicious actions and tried to calm down, 'Don't be paranoid girl, or else he'll see through me.'

He raised an eyebrow at her again, and this time, looked like he was eyeing her very intently, "Really? Well... you /do/ look like her, a bit, but it's impossible that she has a brother. She doesn't have one, right?"

Tifa gasped and remembered her answer to the first question, _'Ah! Yes!'_

'How stupid!' she scolded herself yet again, 'I seem to be commiting lots of mistakes today...'

"Hey," Cloud's voice brought her back to reality.

"Er, no, sorry," Tifa quickly muttered, "We're not related."

"I see," Cloud said, having turned towards the door again, seeming to lose the interest he had in her a while ago, "I like her a lot, she's a great athlete. You can say that I'd like to be like her."

Tifa felt herself almost jump from where she was squatting, "Huh...? Why?"

"Don't give me that," he smiled a bit, making Tifa blush, "She's really good... anyone who's into the game would definitely like her."

'Wow, he /is/ handsome,' she thought kind of dreamily, remembering the little smile he did a while ago. It was a very small one, you know, the one that's so small that you easily ignore it. Judging from his actions, he seems to be the type of guy who's very serious and doesn't smile often. 'The thought of me made him smile...' she found herself blushing, 'What the hell!'

Clooud was quiet now, seems like he didn't expect a reply from her and was now quietly minding his own business. Tifa couldn't help it though so she had to ask, "Do you... play soccer?"

Again, Cloud looked at her, rather shocked. Then, he looked at the door again, "Yeah, but I don't play much now."

'I can sense that you feel so much passion for that game', Tifa thought sadly before replying, "Why?"

"Because..." he paused, slightly hesitating whether he should continue or not, "I can't. This school doesn't allow that. We're supposed to be training to be used in missions, not to play silly games," he quoted what his physical education (A/N: Hereby known as "phys ed") teacher told him before.

_"You can't play soccer, Cloud! You don't have time for that! They are only distractions from your real goal: Be a Soldier."_

"I... see," Tifa replied. The rest of time they were supposed to stay in the hallway passed slowly, nothing but a deafening silence gracing the halls between the two people.

**RING!!**

The bell rang and they both got up. Just as they did so and saw their classmates exiting the room, an announcement was heard throughout the school:

Din din din ding. "Attention to all of Midgar Academy, I am reminding you of the school assembly right after Second Period. Please try your best to come on time, as we will be assigning your room assignments by then. That is all."

"Assembly?" Tifa said out loud, it was supposed to be a question for Cloud but as she turned, she saw no one there. All of her classmates had gone to their respective rooms as well so Tifa did the same, afraid of being late again.

"I completely forgot about my schedule card!" Tifa cried in frustration at her forgetfulness, then hastily took the card out and read it.

#4892's SCHEDULE (M-W-F-S)

1ST PERIOD - 7:00-8:00 - Advanced Elemental Magic

2ND PERIOD - 8:00-9:30 - Weapon Mastery

3RD PERIOD - 9:30-10:30 - Club Meeting

4TH PERIOD - 10:30-11:15 - BREAK

5TH PERIOD - 11:15-12:15 - Basic Dark Magic

6TH PERIOD - 12:15-1:00 - Advanced White Magic

7TH PERIOD - 1:00-2:00 - Physical Defense

8TH PERIOD - 2:00-2:45 - BREAK

9TH PERIOD - 2:45-4:00 - Actual Battle Training

_Note: On T-TH you have your tutors on General Education (Physics, Calculus etc.,)_

"There's even the school map at the back," Tifa groaned, "I must've looked like a total doofus earlier, asking him about directions and all."

Reaching her second class, she dropped her books lazily on the table and took a seat. Frowning after she surveyed the room, she thought to herself, "He's not here... There's no one here that I know..."

She also noticed some of her classmates snickering as they looked at her, 'They must've been part of my first period class too... What a way to make a first impression,' she sighed glumly.

Moments later, she wondered why their teacher still wasn't in the room, "He's been late for about twenty minutes already," Tifa muttered to herself.

Suddenly, her seatmate rested his head on her table and looked at her, "New student? Ah, you're the one who got punished for being late," said that and snickered.

Tifa felt /slightly/ pissed at that when she was just minding her own business, "What do you mean by that?" trying hard but failing to hide her annoyance, 'Damn...' she mentally cursed.

"Hey! No need to lose your cool, you know?" the guy smirked, smoothed his wild, red hair and continued, "I'm Reno! You're...?"

"Johhny," Tifa stated simply, "Johnny Lockheart."

"Are you related to that famous soccer chick, Tifa?" he asked coolly, making Tifa blush slightly, she didn't expect to be this famous, even reaching over the walls of what was supposed to be an academy hidden to the world. She heard once that they didn't even allow television sets in the students' dorms! 'Harsh!' she remembered herself thinking that same thought then.

"Er, no," she answered immediately, afraid of this guy's suspicion, 'I really have to stop being paranoid!' Tifa scolded herself, yet again. 'What the hell!' she sighed, 'I'm beginning to hate this day... Why do I have to be so paranoid? This will pass... This will pass... This will pass... This will pass...'

**RING!!**

The noisy bell rang again, making Tifa almost jump out of her seat. She looked at her watch and sure enough, it was already time for the assembly. Before she could think of what to do next though, Reno grabbed her from her seat and towards him, on his chest was where she landed.

Reno looked... disgusted, "Really Johnny, stop being a wimp now!"

"I'm not a wimp! You're the one who suddenly pulled me!" Tofa retorted, obviously irritated.

"If didn't know better I'd think you're a... gay person..." Reno joked, saying those last two words slowly and faking a chill running up his body afterwards.

"You're sick! Let's just go!" Tifa tried being 'manly' and this time, is the one who pulled him with her.

At the assembly hall, everyone was quiet as the Headmaster stood on the stage. Tifa and Reno too, found a place to sit before he started his speech.

"Good morning MACS," He began.

"MACS?" Tifa asked Reno, whispering so that their seatmates wouldn't be disturbed.

"That's the abbreviation for Midgar Academy Students," Reno explained, "That's how people adderess to us as a whole student body in, for example, assemblies, meetings, announcements..."

"Ok, ok," Tifa stopped him before he could blab any further, "I get it."

Tifa was too late though as everyone stood and clapped by then, meaning, she completely missed the Headmaster's opening speech.

Then, she saw her strict AEM (please refer to the schedule, abbereviation for the first period class) teacher taking the place of the Headmaster by the stage, holding what seems to be the list for the room assignments.

"Good morning MACS," He said, completely silencing the assembly hall, "I know that you are somewhat excited to learn about your room assignments and roommates..."

"Roommates?" Tifa asked Reno, surprised at what the teacher said, "We're gonna have roommates?!"

"Of course," Reno replied as-a-matter-of-factly, "There will be two persons to a room."

'Oh no!' Tifa thought, beads of sweat suddenly forming on her forehead, 'Me and a boy... in the same room?! What the-'

Just then, the teacher's loud voice stopped her train of thought when he said a name, a name that Tifa wasn't sure if she should consider him good news... or just plain... scary?

_"#s 4892 and 4956, Johnny Lockheart and Cloud Strife to DR 27..."_

* * *

A/N: I suggest that if you like my stories, put me on Story/Author alert because I don't have a schedule for updating. I try my best though, though it obviously isn't good enough, seeing that it is only now that I have updated.

Watch out for **Undercurrent**, an account that I, along with some of my classmates, who also have accounts here, are going to create. For now, we thought about posting a Spiral fic, first, we thought about a Naruto one but the plot we had in mind required too much analysis that we decided to continue it later, after we become more knowledgeable with such.

I will be updating my other fics ASAP, as of now, this is the only one I've updated since it is my current favorite. Read and review please, I love constructive criticism, as well as suggestions for plots, you can never get too much of ideas.

I have also decided to post the Chapter Four of my fic, Fatal Accusations of a woman.

That's all. Mabuhay ang mga pinoy!! (shifty eyes) (evil laughter)

**IMPORTANT!** Re-uploaded this chapter because of an important point I failed to include. Thanks for reminding me, Emma and Sinnocently!

Sorry Tifa L. Strife, but I had no choice but to cut her hair! I assure you that she still looks great though, she always does. (Try giving her a makeover using Adobe Photoshop!)


	3. First Lesson of Combat

_Chapter Three: First Lesson of Combat_

_By: Nadir and Blue Wings_

* * *

_Today is Tuesday. Tifa's bedroom (Lockheart Mansion), 5:30 AM_

Tifa grunted as she clicked the button on her alarm clock, shutting it off. She tossed and turned in her bed for a few minutes, seeming as though she was battling with her sleepiness. After a while though, it seems like the want to go to class won.

"I'm moving into the dorms today," Tifa muttered to herself dazedly, "My bags..."

Turning to look at where her bags supposedly were, all the sleepiness she was feeling suddenly disappeared when she noticed that... "I FORGOT TO PACK!" she cried after the realization, enough for the whole mansion to hear.

Moments later, someone knocked on her bedroom's door, causing her interruption from her crazed packing frenzy. "What?" she said, irritated, and didn't even bother to look at whoever the person was, as whoever he was let himself in.

"Young mistress, good morning," the butler greeted her warmly, despite of her unpleasantness, "I would like to remind you that your classes today are not to start until eight," he smiled as he looked at her messy room, with her in such a hurry to pack and all, clothes and stuff flying off the drawers, and exited her room quietly.

Tifa immediately snatched her schedule card and looked at it, "We should have our tutors today but since it's the first week, we'll be fixing our dorms and having the combat schedule... Weapon Mastery?"

She continued packing her bag, 'I'll pack it tomorrow since we're starting class at 8 anyway,' she remembered herself saying that last night and laughed a little at her forgetfulness.

_Midgar Academy, 7:42 AM_

"Thanks," Tifa quietly said as she gave her bags to be deposited. They'll claim it later when they're given the time to move into their dorms.

Upon reaching her class, she shuffled into a random vacant seat and stared outside the window, thinking, 'A lot has happened since yesterday. If only I had known that going to school was this fun then I should have stopped home schooling ages ago...' while her classmates' noise and chattering were heard in the background.

_(flashback to yesterday's school assembly, after everyone got a dorm partner) _

_"What?!" Tifa said out loud from where she was seating, "Why him?"_

_"Oooh Cloud," Reno said sarcastically, "You're lucky Johnny, lucky."_

_She raised her eyebrow in reply._

_"Cloud is the school's famous anti-social jerk," Reno said plainly, "A lot of us are irritated by his arrogance."_

_"Uhm," Tifa replied, "Was he always like that?"_

_"I don't know, don't care," Reno said, immediately ending their conversation._

From then on, Tifa had pushed the topic to the end of her mind, only remembering it now, "Maybe I should ask a teacher but..."

Immediately, the noise subsided and Tifa looked around to discover that there, in the middle of the room, stood a 6'4 figure.

'The teacher,' Tifa assumed, amazed, 'He's a pretty good type to teach the weapons class, I mean, having such a height and body and all.'

"Good morning pupils," the giant said, "Most of you know me by now so I'm sayin' this for the sake of the new pupil," looking at Tifa, "But first, go here in front and introduce yourself, will ya boy?"

"Yes sir," Tifa said meekly after she gulped, 'He's so scary...'

Tifa cleared her throat quietly before speaking, stuttering as she spoke because of her nervousness, "A p-pleasant morning to all (cough), I-I'm Ti-Johnny Lockheart..." then she paused to adjust her huge specs.

The teacher patted her back, hard, saying "It's okay kid, no need to be nervous," after trying hard to stifle his laughter.

Some of the boys in the room tried to do the same too, most failed though which made Tifa more self-conscious.

"(cough) As I-I've said, I'm Johnny Lockheart, a transferee student," that she repeated that rather bravely this time and turned hastily towards her seat. But the teacher stopped her, "Tell us some more about yourself lad, come on."

"Uhh, like what?" Tifa asked, rather sheepishly as she was afraid of the gigantic person.

"Your interests, family and... oh, weapon experience! Anything at all!" but the giant seemed rather friendly, "This is, after all, Weapon Mastery class."

"I've never handled weapons before," Tifa said, feeling a bit insecure now because she seemed like a total newbie to everything, "But... but I know martial arts."

The teacher, finally giving up after trying to make the transferee student open up to the class twice, told her to take a seat now, "As I was saying earlier, the name's Barret, Barret Wallace."

They then preceeded to the lesson, which of course, didn't really start after everyone has picked their weapon of choice. Papers were passed with the folllowing choices: Swords, Guns, Knives, Bombs, Staffs, Bows, Other.

'I'd like to take up gunning,' Tifa finally decided later, 'I've had some practice, so I think I won't have problems learning,' after checking the box.

As the teacher was confirming the students' picks, he stopped at Tifa's, "Gunning, eh?" he looked at her inquisitively, "Definitely a great choice boy! Seems like we'll be spending a lot of time together!" and after a while, took his jacket off.

Tifa gasped, then bowed slightly because of her emabarassment. Seems like all of the students know about Barret's left arm being a gun, a very big gun. 'Whoah, really scary,' Tifa thought, sweat drops forming on her forehead.

"See? Neat, huh!" he smiled as he showed off his weapon, "I'd like to meet with you after class if it's ok, it's rare that I see someone wanting to take up gunning."

"Oh," Tifa mouthed to make time, she was still thinking if she should accept, "I-uh..."

**RING!!** Just then, the bell that signals the end of periods, whom they fondly refer to as the noisy bell, rang, forcing Barret and Tifa to cut their conversation short.

"Okay."

"Great!" Barret simply said in reply, as he returned to the front of the room, "Class, we'll have the basics tomorrow. For now, try to practice with the safety substitutes available at the gym," turning to face the class and making his voice a tad louder, "Class dismissed."

* * *

"Hey!" suddenly, Reno appeared before her, "Let's go grab pizza in the caf." 

"Pretty quiet today during Weapons Mastery, aren't we?" Tifa teased him as they walked along the corridor to the canteen.

The two laughed as Reno explained how he was afraid of the new teacher too, and break seemed to pass by really fast.

* * *

So fast that she didn't even notice that it was over and after Reno had took off and she was alone, busy finishing her pizza and not really caring, who else to tap on her shoulder but... Cloud? 

"It's you," she told him, like it was supposed to be a greeting, "Why?"

"We're roommates, remember?" he told her coldly, so unlike the Cloud she was with yesterday, "I need you to claim the key."

Tifa raised her eyebrow at the last statement, "What do you mean?" she tried to say while her mouth was full, trying to finish her pizza slice in one bite.

"They won't give it to me without my partner," Tifa assumed that he was tired of standing up there as he took the seat nearest her, "For security purposes."

Minutes later they were in the corridor, with her having difficulty keeping up with Cloud's fast pace, in exasperation she exclaimed, "Slow down, ne? It's not like it's gonna run away from us, you know."

Cloud didn't even bother to look at her in reply, and instead, walked even faster and this served to irritate her more.

'Baka,' Tifa thought silently as she took another deep breath and tried to keep up with him.

* * *

_Midgar Acdemy, DR 27. 10:38 AM_

As soon as they stepped inside the room, they were met by what seemed like the lounge, a receiving room for visitors. Beyond that, were three doors. Two were opened, obviously their bedrooms and the last one that was closed, Tifa surmised was the bathroom.

Turning to look at Cloud, she saw him heading quietly towards a room which would be his then, 'What's up with him?' she thought, puzzled at the sudden coldness that he emitting around her today.

* * *

"By the way," Tifa almost jumped from where she was sitting when she heard Cloud's voice, "don't enter my room, ok?" 

"Sure," Tifa said absent-mindedly, "Are you going out?" she added after a while but the only reply she got was the sound of a door being closed.

Thinking that Cloud has gone, she went out of her room and thought of using the bathroom, closing her bedroom door as she went out.

"Ou-Ouch!" Tifa exclaimed, as she tripped on something round and hard. She saw that it was a soccer ball. Instinctively, she turned towards Cloud's room and, just as she thought, the door was open. "Anou... I know he told me not to touch his room but I'm just going to return his ball, right? It's not like I'm going to steal something or snoop around," she calmed herself as she went into his room, with a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"It will only be for a second..."

She was just about to exit his room when there, on the door, stood a pissed-looking Cloud. "Hey!" Cloud's angry voice made her heart skip a beat.

"I-I'm sorry," she said immediately, bowing, a Japanese practice when apologizing, so that he wouldn't see her face, "I... I just returned your ball and-"

"I told you not to enter my room!" Cloud said accusingly, making Tifa turn around and see...

"...posters of soccer superstars?" Tifa said to herself, although it was loud enough for Cloud to hear her speculation.

"Just go out, please," he told her simply.

"I had a feeling that you still loved the sport," Tifa told him, ignorant of his plea, "Why did you quit anyway?"

"I... I badmouthed the coach so he kicked me off the team," Cloud replied icily, looking towards another direction, 'Anywhere but him...'

"Then that's only with the team," Tifa paused, encouraging Cloud to tell her more, "Why did you quit soccer?"

"I-I don't know," Cloud stammered, searching within his head for an appropriate answer and is obviously having a hard time finding one, "I quit because... I don't know why. I really don't."

"Then you didn't really quit, ne?" Tifa suddenly exclaimed, snapping Cloud out of his confused state. Throwing his soccer ball at him, Tifa invited, "Want to play?"

"No," Cloud stated, but it sounded more like a question. "No, thank you," he repeated, his voice sounding firmer now.

"It's ok," Tifa replied, walking out of his room, "Later then? See you!" and with that, she vanished into her own room, closing the door behind her.

* * *

_ Midgar Academy, Basic Dark Magic Class. 11:32 AM_

"Good morning students," their teacher greeted them in a monotone voice as he entered the room, "I am Vincent Valentine, and I will be your teacher for Basic Dark Magic."

Tifa just got to the room, maybe a few seconds earlier than him, and she was thankful for this, "Maybe this teacher's the same with our AEM one? Strict and harsh?" she whispered to herself, sighing afterwards.

"You are so troublesome," a familiar voice told her, it turns out to be Cloud. To tell the truth, although their voices were nowhere near each other in terms of similarity, she mistook him for Reno. She didn't see him though, which meant that he had a different class at this time.

"Cloud! We're classmates?" Tifa whispered. Loudly, if I do say so myself.

"Obviously," Cloud snapped, hoping to make her ignore him, "You're causing a lot of noise, Sir Valentine might-"

"Yes?" too late, their teacher was already in front of them, annoyed with their chitchatting, "Do share it with the class."

"Nothing Sir," Cloud quickly replied, "Our apologies."

"As I was saying," Cloud sighed in relief as the teacher faced the class and continued with their activities. This time, he made sure that he'd listen.

"We're going to use the buddy system for our combat practices, one will be the front attacker and the other one, the back," he paused for a while, opened his record book, and continued, "I'll have to group you into pairs then, with this information that Sir Wallace gave me, your weapon preferences."

Eventually, Cloud was the next to be called, "Strife, your partner will be... Lockheart."

"What?" he exclaimed in shock, not that he was _seemingly_ questioning his mentor's decision.

"Is there a problem?" Sir Valentine asked, eyeing him suspiciously, "Oh, you got paired with your chitchat partner, isn't that good?" he continued a short while later, his tone was sarcastic.

Their classmates tried to stifle their laughter but failed nonetheless, causing Cloud embarassment and Tifa, a sure punishment from Yours Truly later on.

"Nothing Sir," Cloud replied, sounding like a recorded tape, "I-I was just surprised."

With the teacher's back to them, Cloud whispered to Tifa sarcastically, "Thank you, now I just have. to. be. stuck with you."

(**A/N**: have. to. be. - To give you an idea of the tone he used)

"All's well, ends well, I guess?" Tifa replied, sweatdrops forming on her forehead, you know, anime style, "This is bad..."

"What?" Cloud said in a muffled voice, confused.

"I... I-uh, am a newbie at Battle," Tifa meekly said, scratching her head.

* * *

**A/N**: Thank goodness it didn't take me six months before completing this chapter. :p My other stories' updates are still not completed though, maybe I'll get to them during Christmas break. I had quite a problem writing about Cloud since he had, technically, two "selves": the game one and the one in Advent Children. Based on this chapter, this is how I'll work with his character from now on: He will be a serious guy, having his emo pansy moments like he did in AC but he'll have short goofy moments as influenced by his past character in the game. Like they say, old habits die hard, don't they? So, yeah, if this seems OOC to you, I'm really sorry. I'm trying my best not to make him that, as I hate OOC-ness myself. 

Just a personal update, I have finished watching Kyo Kara Maou! (anime, just 39 episodes, still searching for more) recently. It was a bit yaoi-ish if you asked me, and I think I'm loving fluff yaoi now. So yeah, that's what gave me the _adrenaline rush_ to write this chapter! Lol, Boy Tifa x Cloud. (laughs evilly)

**Undercurrent** is now fully operational. We already uploaded Chapter one of our collaboration fic, "Dependent Independence" (from Spiral, generally AyuxHino) there. Please R&R both fics (this one and that, yeah, to clear confusion)! (sticks tongue out at you)


	4. Field Test to Remember

_Chapter Four: Field Test To Remember_

_By: Nadir and Blue Wings_

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_It's been about two months now since Sir Valentine assigned me to be Cloud's partner. I'm telling you, I thought that was a good thing because he was HOT and I, sort of, like him... BUT! It turned out to be really stressful. (T-T)!! I didn't know that he was some kind of prodigy with a sword, while here I am, still unable to hit that bullseye with my gun (even though Sir Wallace keeps telling me that I have a pretty good aim... Oh well)._

_Okay, so I have been ranting... That's not the point why I'm writing here anyway. The point is... TOMORROW, WE'LL BE HAVING A FIELD TEST!! A F-I-E-L-D TEST:gasp:shock:gasp:_

_So if ever that I die and this is to be my last entry, I want my dad to know that I really love him and that I'm so sorry for causing this scandal. I also want you to be burned, Diary, and all my stuff to be given away to charity. )_

_Is a total whack right now,  
Lockheart_

_P.S.  
I want Cloud to be racked by his conscience: Why did he let me die? Why!  
He never liked me. (T-T)_

* * *

_Shooting Range, Midgar Academy. 8:26 PM._

"What are you doing?" A strict voice behind her said, it was Cloud, "We're supposed to be training!"

"I-I wanted to humor myself a bit," Tifa replied, immediately closing her diary and stuffing it in her bag, afraid that Cloud might want to look at it and worse, _read_ it, "So I-"

"We have no time for that," he snapped, rudely interrupting her, "I have to train you because there's a chance of failing tomorrow's field test because of your inability to shoot a _simple, fixed_ target."

"You don't have to rub it in that hard, you know," Tifa replied, layering her voice with sarcasm, then picked up her gun and got ready to try again, "It's not like I'm not trying, _I am_."

'Man, why are you the type to hold grudges?' Tifa complained to herself, remembering the day when they got scolded by Sir Valentine. It seems that Cloud wasn't joking when he told her that she'd **regret** being partners with him.

She sighed.

"I have the right to hold a grudge," he slowly said in his usual low voice, but this time, even if I did say 'usual', it was still... different. Somehow, it I _felt_ like he said it with feeling, "We... never got to play soccer. I was really looking forward to it."

* * *

_Gymnasium, Midgar Academy. 5:12 AM._

Tifa was still replaying last night's events in her mind. It seemed so... unreal. It was just like every other day, nothing special happened. They were having their usual bickering, she said nothing special, did nothing out of the ordinary. But somehow... there was something that happened that made Cloud say that.

_"I have the right to hold a grudge... We never got to play soccer. I was really looking forward to it."_

She formed this habit of waking up early to train about a month ago because she felt that she was too weak, too unworthy of being Cloud's partner. She didn't want to wait for Cloud to tell her that though, so she decided that she had to do something before that happened.

Lately though, there were mornings when she would leave her gun in her room and practice her martial arts instead. She did like gunning, not as much as taekwondo though. But if she wanted to remain partners with Cloud, she has to stick to gunning. After all, we can't be both front-attackers, right? That would obviously be inconvenient, since it's a well-known fact that some enemies can only be attacked from afar.

"I want him to see that I am not as pathetic as he probably think I am now," she said to herself, somewhat disappointed, "But... how?"

Sometimes, she wondered if Cloud would have treated her differently had he knwn that was a girl, 'As Tifa Lockheart, nonetheless!' she thought to herself, all the while trying to suppress her giggles.

* * *

_Gate A (front gate), Midgar Academy. 9:58 AM._

**Objectives:**

- Stock up on Basic Elemental Magic (minimum of 30 each)  
- Get Odin materia - Get Cosmo Memory (Item)  
- Kill Dual Horn, bring back his Pepio Nut here as proof

_All units must be back here, at Gate A, before 3 PM. You'll be given five points deduction for every minute that you are late.  
Anyone who is forced to go to the Infirmary (KO'ed, etc.,) BEFORE completing the objectives will automatically receive a failing grade, along with his partner._

"...Understood?" Sir Valentine asked, his loud voice distracting the students from the paper.

The students answered a weak "Yes Sir!", proof that after knowing about the objectives, the desire to chicken out grew stronger.

"Have fun everyone!" Sir Wallace exclaimed happily, hoping to cheer them up by making the ordeal that they were about to go through sound like it was just a game, something to be enjoyed and not to be afraid of.

It didn't work, it seems.

The whole class were in their battle outfits, each one different to suit every students' unique needs, taking also into consideration the type of weapon that they're using. It definitely added the "feel" in this sort of situations, that feeling being fear. It looked as though they were about to go into a war or something.

From this, we can deduce that a field test is no _game_. It wasn't included in the curicculum for enjoyment (Unless you are morbid/suicidal then you'll definitely find this fun!).

Tifa wore a Protect Vest because she needed an extra boost in Vitality, given her position as a gunner. Her weapon was a Canon Ball, the very best that a neophyte like her can handle for the time being. Although her weapon is not that great, yet, her Tetra Elemental, is awesome. This is to make up for what her second-rate (need I say, _for now_) gun lacked in. Completing her get-up was a Crystal Bangle, that not only boosts her Defense and Magic Defense but has also six slots for equipping materia. And because Cloud assigned her to be the Medic, she's equipped with the following materia: Restore, Heal, and Revive. She brought along Ice, Poison, and Gravity materia too, just in case. (and she couldn't help but feel that it was such a waste that she still had three empty slots)

Cloud, on the other hand, is a natural swordsman, who's had a lot of training, so he's already using an intermediate-class sword like Yoshiyuki. His other equipments are not really great, since he's already limited to choosing the lighter, if not the lightest ones, because of his sword's great weight.

The main gate slowly closed, leaving the students alone in the wilderness. Most of them were being cautious ("or being chicken," as Cloud would have said it), just wandering on the areas near the school.

But Cloud was getting bored, "Let's go," he told Tifa as he held her by the wrist, dragging her further away from the school and towards a hill, which is 'about a few hundred kilometers away,' Tifa estimated.

"S-Shouldn't we just stay near the school?" Tifa told him, after some time, anxious of the possible consequences of their, rather, Cloud's rash actions.

It was a well-known fact that the areas near civilization are perfectly safe, since the humans drive the monsters away. As you go further away though, it becomes more and more dangerous, since monsters are likely to be here, without humans to disturb or harm them.

"Why are we going up that hill?" Tifa said suddenly, after allowing more time to pass, clearly expressing her alarm. She was getting more frightened with every step they took, moreso because Cloud wasn't talking to her, making her feel alone... and helpless.

"All the monsters we need to complete our objectives are there, in the cavern," Cloud told her, sounding the least concerned, "The sooner we finish this, the better."

"Why are you in such a rush anyway?" Tifa exclaimed, her irritation becoming obvious as she shook Cloud's hand off her wrist forcefully, "You dragged me to this hill, not even caring about MY opinions! What if I was against this?"

"If you're afraid then you can just wait outside and let me do this," Cloud told her coolly, preparing to go inside the dark, eerie, entrance of the cavern.

"If we get killed here, no one will find our corpses," Tifa held his wrist, making him pause and getting his attention for a while. She sounded serious, using a monotone voice like he usually did.

"I have no intention of dying here," Cloud laughed a little as he shook his wrist out of her grasp, shortly vanishing into the darkness.

"Fine, I'll stay here," Tifa exclaimed, hoping that Cloud will hear it... through echoes, maybe, "Don't think that I'll be doing nothing though, I'll be killing monsters too."

* * *

Tifa wandered around the foot of the hill, growing extremely nervous by the second. It wasn't because she was anxious of her safety though, rather, Cloud's, 'Did I do the right thing in letting him go there alone?' she asked herself, the answer was obviously no, but still... Cloud didn't want her to go, right? If there were two "correct" actions and you can only do one, completely disregarding the other, which would you do?

"This is so confusing!" Tifa exclaimed, if only to break the silence. Because in the silence, she's free to worry like nuts, with what, nothing to disturb her thoughts. Not even the monsters that she's searching for, 'Why are there no monsters anyway? Am I _that_ lucky?'

'Did I do the right thing...'

'What if he gets cornered?'

'What if he runs out of potions?'

'What if...'

Dozens of what ifs going through her mind, adding to her confusion.

'Should I follow him? But... what about me? Can I defend myself?'

'Cloud treats this as though it was a game,' she thought bitterly to herself, 'Like his life didn't matter.'

"Shimata..." Tifa sighed, exasperated, "Oh yeah, I'm going to get a good grade when all I did was stand here and worry."

"This sucks!"

A long time passed, at least for the ever-worrying Tifa, and still, she hadn't made up her mind, nor encountered any monsters.

Suddenly, a thought entered her head amidst all of her confusion, "This is... the Forbidden Cavern!" she gasped. "Why hadn't I recognized it before? On a hill... near the school... no monsters around... this IS the Forbidden Cavern!"

At that very moment, a blast shook the ground for a second, its noise being echoed from the cave. Wasting no time to think, Tifa rushed inside to find Cloud.

* * *

"... that was a close one," Cloud told himself, sighing in relief, "Oh well, there goes my last bomb."

Goiing deeper and deeper into the cavern, Tifa's words flashed in his mind, _"If we get killed here, no one will find our corpses,"_

"Yeah, but it's not like we'll pass if we wait for some monster to _miraculously_ appear near the school," he said absent-mindedly, continuing his way around the caverns, "Besides, here, I have completed all the objectives except..."

* * *

"... Odin materia!" Tifa ran inside the cavern blindly, suddenly, remembering all of their lessons, "Only monsters that are 39 and above carry those kinds of materia! What if Cloud can't handle that alone?"

Powered by her adrenaline rush, it seems like she was accompanied with extreme luck too, as she hadn't encountered any monsters yet. "Cloud..." she whispered, and immediately, it felt like she wasn't afraid anymore, just really angry, 'Kuso, the things I do for that idiot!'

* * *

Cloud was exercising extreme care as he wandered around the cavern, 'I can't rush into just any battle now,' he reminded himself, 'I have to conserve my energy and my supply of potions...'

'Now's probably a good time to have Johnny around,' he sighed, "I didn't want to be _that _cold to him earlier, well yeah,"

"But, I don't want him to go inside the cavern and get hurt. After all, I was the one who wanted to go here... I don't want another person to get hurt because of my actions,"

"This is for the best," Cloud added, moments later, hoping to convince himself.

Sensing movement by the rock just ahead of him, Cloud paused his thoughts for a while, clenching his sword tighter, ready for battle.

"Stupid Cloud!" Tifa came out from behind the rock, complaining about Cloud and his crazy decisions.

Cloud let out a tiny sigh of relief before going near her, "Stupid, eh? Why are you here?"

Tifa punched his face, eyes ablaze with anger, "Were you about to commit suicide? I followed you here because I just realized that you went ALONE into the Forbidden Cavern! How could you be so stupid?!"

Surprised, though he didn't let Tifa see that, he faced another direction, anywhere but at her, slowly saying, "I-I'm sorry."

"And now you apologize?" she snapped, sounding flabbergasted.

Silence. Noting that her last action was a bit unnecessary, it was now Tifa's turn to apologize, "Sorry," she muttered, softly this time, "Are you hurt?"

"Johnny," Cloud began in a mock-serious voice, "You're like a girl sometimes," letting out a little chuckle afterwards.

Tifa laughed along, happy that the darkness of the cavern hid her face from him, because it gradually turned into a shade of red.

* * *

"You do know that it was dangerous for you to follow me here, right?" Cloud said out of the blue as they went deeper still into the cavern, hoping to see a Lost Number soon.

Cloud was leading the way, with Tifa tailing him from behind. They stuck close together as they slowly and silently walked, being at their most sensitive lest any monsters creep near them and make the mistake of making their presences felt through the sound they make.

"Yeah, but you know what they say, two heads are better than one," Tifa replied, laughing a bit, "In our case though, two people attacking a monster is better than just one,"

"I suppose you're right-"

Cloud was cut short in replying as he noticed Ark Dragon behind Tifa, ready to attack the unwary one by surprise.

They were both distracted as they talked, a few seconds ago, and during this time, the monster knew that they had let their defenses down and took this opportunity to attack them.

"UWAAAA!!" The monster cried as Cloud finished it off with a single slice, cutting it into two. Disappearing into the darkness, it left behind a Phoenix Down.

Cloud handed it over to Tifa before falling to his knees, a result of being poisoned.

* * *

"Cloud?" Tifa dragged him to lean on the cavern wall, making him drink an Antidote, then slapping his face gently afterwards to awaken him.

"Cloud! You were amazing!" She cried, happy that his eyelids were now beginning to flutter themselves awake.

"We shouldn't talk too much," he muttered as he got up, as though nothing happened.

"Right, gomen," Tifa weakly replied as they continued, "Shouldn't you rest for a while though...?"

"I'm fine now, there's no need," Cloud said, looking at his watch, "It's already 12:47 PM, we should hurry..."

This wasn't entirely true albeit Cloud has already been cured from poisoning, there was something, although he just couldn't put what it is right now... something was weakening him, "This is what you get for zoning out of Basic Dark Magic Class," he scolded himself, voice toned down for fear of his companion hearing him, 'I don't want to worry him, it's not like he could help anyway,' he thought.

"Cloud," Tifa nudged him, her voice bordering on apprehension, "Did you hear that?"

Startled by her question, Cloud quckly replied, "Hear what?"

"I-It's Lost Number, I think," Tifa stammered, somewhat anxious of the danger ahead of them, "I mean, judging by the sounds that it made."

"You remember Battle Plan A, right?" Cloud told her as he readied his sword, "I'd rather that you'll just let me handle this though-"

"No-"

"Well, yeah, I know you won't," Cloud continued, smirking a little, "So we'll do Plan A, ok?"

"Yeah," Tifa simply replied as she immediately went away from Cloud, a safe distance of about five meters, where she could easily shoot the monster and use her materia.

Lost Number appeared, and Cloud, with the help of Initiative materia, managed to get the first chance for attack. Landing firmly on his feet, he smiled as he thought of how much damage he dealt, 'A few more of these and that materia will be ours!' he thought triumphantly, losing his focus on the monster if only for just a second.

But in that one second, he had let his guard down and immediately, the monster was able to deal some damage onto him.

"What? How?" Cloud thought, alarmed as he clutched his right shoulder, it was bleeding, "I-It should be in a daze because of my attack-"

Then, the answer came to him, "I... I missed?"

Of all the times that he went into a battle, he never missed. He trained hard to get a near perfect accuracy and yes, it was possible that he might still miss, seeing as he is only human. But, Cloud never thought that he'd miss hitting such a low-leveled monster. (yes, he is very arrogant, no?)

'Something is definitely wrong,' he thought, remembering the sensation that he felt earlier, 'Is this the status ailment known as Blind?'

"Heal!" his thoughts were interrupted as he felt a bright, green light surround him. In an instant, the wound on his right shoulder closed.

"Tifa, do you have some Eye Drops with you?"

"No," Tifa immediately answered, only realizing the situation a second later, added, "You... You're suffering from Blind?"

"Yeah." Cloud replied flatly.

"You don't even have any offensive materia equipped right now!" Tifa exclaimed, panicking, "You should rest... let me handle this."

"You can't!" Cloud hastily replied, shocking Tifa with his declaration of his **complete** lack of trust in her... it hurt.

"Let's just escape!"

"Then go," Tifa snapped, "I'm staying here."

"What?" Cloud said, surprised that Johnny, who was always obedient to him ('if only because I am _a bit_ scary,' he mused, smirking inwardly), just opposed him, 'Why now?' he thought, fearing for their safety... more importantly, Johnny's safety.

Tifa didn't get a chance to reply though, for the monster began to attack them again, with a blast that pinned Cloud to the cavern's wall.

"Ugh..." Cloud uttered, clutching his shoulder. There was an abrupt jolt as he made contact with the rough, mossy wall. He felt his shoulder go numb, along with his right arm. He couldn't stand up.

"Ice!" He could hear Johnny casting the spell, he wanted to help... but how? He hated this feeling, the feeling of helplessness... being forced to rely on someone else because you couldn't do what was assigned to you.

'Like that feeling five years ago,' were his last thoughts as his eyelids slowly closed and his shoulders relaxed; as his body gave in and let his subconsciousness take over.

* * *

"Heal! Heal!"

Cloud grunted as he weakly opened his eyes, then quickly closed them as the intense light around him irritated them, a result of staying for a prolonged time inside the cave.

"Johnny...?"

"Thank goodness you're up! I was really worried, thinking that I might not be able to revive you," Tifa sighed happily, wiping off the sweat on her forehead.

"W-we're outside?" Cloud asked, weakly lifting an arm up to shield his eyes from the light of the sun, "You got the...?"

"Yeah," Tifa hastily replied then proceeded to help Cloud stand, "We've got to hurry back now, or we'll be late. Are you okay now?"


End file.
